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<title>“Explain it to me again — why do we need to pretend to be married?” by Yuuki_Nyanmaru</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652886">“Explain it to me again — why do we need to pretend to be married?”</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuki_Nyanmaru/pseuds/Yuuki_Nyanmaru'>Yuuki_Nyanmaru</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Right Mistake [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Arashi (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:02:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,037</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652886</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuki_Nyanmaru/pseuds/Yuuki_Nyanmaru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sho asked for a huge favor and somehow his friend Aiba had accepted.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Right Mistake [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099835</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Sakuraiba Tanabata 2020-2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>“Explain it to me again — why do we need to pretend to be married?”</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! Here we go with another series! Hope you'll like this! ^^<br/>Also: this prompt was given to me by Holly, my dear trash-mate for these Tanabata drabbles. I hope to have written something you like &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Getting out of the car, Sakurai stepped on the slippery asphalt, as he walked up towards the gate of the big house, dragging his luggage with him.</p><p>“Sho-chan,” called the other man next to him.</p><p>“What is it?” he rang the bell and when the gate was open, they entered the wide garden covered by the snow. </p><p>“Explain it to me again — why do we need to pretend to be married?”</p><p>“Are you backing out now?!” he asked alarmed, stopping abruptly.</p><p>“I’m not, but…” Aiba trailed off before staring at the huge house rented by Sho’s friends for the new year holidays, “Isn’t this, like, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?”</p><p>“Aiba, please, I don’t want to have another holiday with my friends trying to set me up with <em> anyone </em> they find around,” he pleaded.</p><p>“You could at least have said ‘boyfriend’ instead of ‘husband’...”</p><p>“Being married means to be completely off the market,” he explained. “I understand that you haven’t been in a relationship since ages, but you just have to act. Is that hard?” he asked, before crossing his arms and smirking, “Or have you forgotten how it is to have a lover?”</p><p>Aiba flashed him a challenging look, “Alright Sakurai, I’ll behave as the perfect husband. But you owe me one.”</p><p>Sho nodded and resumed walking towards the front door, where his friend was already waiting for him.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>The day had gone well by far; no one suspected that Sakurai and Aiba were just friends, on the contrary, they considered them perfect for each other. Now, they were finishing their dinner and Sho had to admit that Aiba was doing quite a nice job.</p><p><em> I have always thought that he would be the perfect lover. </em>He thought while drinking his glass of wine. The sudden nudge of Aiba’s shoulder, though, woke him from his trance and he found everyone staring at him.</p><p>“Sorry, what?”</p><p>His friend Ryuta was the one who had just talked, “I asked you why didn’t you introduce your husband earlier. He is the best!”</p><p>“I have already explained that. Even though I have already come out of the closet, I was still a bit afraid and shy to show my relationship.”</p><p>“So, for how long have you been dating?”</p><p>Sho and Aiba exchanged an unsure look before he tried to dismiss that question, “It doesn’t matter, what’s important is that we’re together and happily married.”</p><p>He smiled at the other man who did the same, before turning towards Ryuta, since he had just been called by him, “Tell us Aiba-kun. He is very hard to deal with, right?”</p><p>“Well,” the man said, tilting his head to the side.</p><p>“Stop with that,” Sakurai scolded his friend playfully.</p><p>“You see,” Aiba started once again, before glancing at Sho and placing his left hand to his leg, “This man here, is the best thing which has ever happened to me.”</p><p>Everyone whistled at those words, as they waited for Aiba to continue.</p><p>“Oh, come on,” Sho commented, facing embarrassment when he was actually smiling smugly.</p><p>“No, <em> love </em> , let me talk. I’m serious,” he told him before turning towards Sakurai’s friends again, “He is really passionate and loyal. Do you know that he had been drooling all over me for <em> years </em> before I accepted to go on a date with him? He was literally pleading at some point.”</p><p>Sho’s smile turned into a grimace as he whispered, “Stop.”</p><p>“<em> Honey </em>, don’t be shy. This is so romantic! It shows that your love is earnest.”</p><p>All his friends agreed and Sho preferred to just refill his glass and drink another shot of wine.</p><p>“Now I’m very curious to hear about the proposal!” one of the women said.</p><p>“It was actually simple—”</p><p>“Simply amazing,” Aiba cut him off, while his hand raised on his thigh, making Sho shiver.</p><p>“First of all,” the man beside him started, “I arrived at his house and he welcomed me wearing this cute camo apron. Then, he confessed to having actually cooked dinner but he burned every single ingredient, so we had to order pizza in the end.”</p><p>His friends were all laughing and the only thing Sho wanted to do was to bury himself alive. He had to expect that Aiba would take revenge, but he didn’t think that he would do that in this way. But then again, his friend had always loved teasing him…</p><p>“Next, he brought me to the balcony and,” he turned towards Sakurai, smiling, “This proud man over here actually got on his knees, you know in <em> dogeza </em> style, and asked me to marry him.”</p><p>“Our Sho-kun did that?!” they exclaimed.</p><p>Sakurai could only fake a smile, as he covered Aiba’s hand with his and pinched its skin. The man, though, seemed unaffected by the pain since he continued with his story.</p><p>“He told me, ‘<em> Masaki, I know that I don’t deserve you, that you’re too good for me, but please, choose me. I’m a piece of garbage, I know… but I love you. So, would you marry me? </em>’... And, well, I could only accept, am I right?”</p><p>“He really said that?!”</p><p>“I—”</p><p>“You see,” the other man cut him off once again, “He thinks that he is the most horrible person in this world, and I have to reassure him that, ‘<em> No Sho-chan, there are many other people like that. So, you’re not the worst! </em>’”</p><p>As before, everyone laughed at Aiba’s words and he got so annoyed that, in the end, he exclaimed, “And that’s the story! There’s nothing else to tell!”</p><p>“Look at him, being all shy,” Ryuta teased, “You never show this kind of vulnerable side, it’s nice to know that you are actually a bit insecure too.”</p><p>Sho swallowed an angry and frustrated shout, as he pressed his lips together and tried to not hear all his friends’ comments over that fake story.</p><p>“He wants to act all strong, that’s it, but that’s just another reason to love him. Right, <em> sweetheart </em>?” Masaki said before throwing his arm around Sho’s shoulder, pulling him in and kissing him on his temple.</p><p>“I love you too, <em> darling </em>,” he forced himself to say, as his fingers pinched harder Aiba’s hand, which still was on his thigh.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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